Category Archives: St George’s Church

Come to Christingle on Sunday, February 3, at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, at 11.30am.

Christingle is a celebration that takes place sometime between the beginning of December and early February.

‘Christingles’ are created out of oranges, sweets and dried fruit stuck in them using cocktail sticks, red ribbon around the oranges, and a candle which is then lit.

The orange represents the world, the red ribbon (or tape) symbolises the love and blood of Christ, the sweets and dried fruit represent all of God’s creations, and the lit candle represents Jesus’ light in the world, bringing hope to people living in darkness.

There are prayers and songs and a lot of fun and it’s aimed at everyone in the family. Come along at 11.30am, join in and also raise money for the charity The Children’s Society. Bring your friends too.

There are two new services being introduced into the parish in the next few weeks, both of them opportunities to have some stillness and pray.

The first is Said Evensong from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), a service beloved by many but which has declined in popularity in the last few decades. The second is a Taizé service, a simple service based on chants and silence. They will take place monthly for a trial period of six months, starting with Evensong on the final Sunday of the month at 5pm at St George’s, Badshot Lea – January 27 is the first one – and Taizé on the first Sunday of the month at 6pm at St John’s, Hale, with the first one on February 3.

The idea is to give us a chance to find some stillness so that we may hear God speak. Lesley Crawley says: “It feels so amazing, miraculous even, that God speaks to us ordinary folks and our lives are transformed forever.

“I believe that to experience such things we have to deliberately put ourselves in the way of God. We won’t hear God speaking unless we make time and space to do so. In our parish there is so much going on that sometimes I wonder whether God can accidentally get sidelined; and so we are offering two opportunities each month to have some additional stillness and prayerfulness. These will be located in particular buildings but are for everyone, irrespective of whether you go to a different church, or no church.”

BCP Said Evensong has been chosen by Lesley because it is a service she has loved since she discovered it during her curacy. She says of this discovery: “I loved the BCP, I loved the poetry of the language, I was charmed by the way that words have changed their meaning, and I enjoyed using those words with their old meaning. I found particular words and phrases incredibly challenging or comforting or meaningful – they pulled me into the presence of God. I loved the way that words were paired together like peace and concord, celebrating the depth and range of our language and behind that the diversity of all the peoples with their languages over many centuries who have come together to make our complex and many-faceted nation. The repetition was also helpful – saying almost exactly the same thing each week meant that I could experience the same words that had so blessed me the previous week and I found that those words continued to bless me from then on, week in and week out.”

Taizé has been chosen as a ‘doorway’ through to a closer experience of God. Lesley says: “I find that the experience of chanting enables me to step through the chants into the presence of God. Perhaps it is because I’ve always found it easier to learn things that are sung rather than said. For instance, at school I was rubbish at learning poems but I knew lots of pop songs off by heart! The chants are in various languages (although I tend to stick to the English and Latin chants) but actually language is irrelevant, it is just a tool to step into that place of intimacy with God.”

Craig Nobbs will be leading Said Evensong at 5pm St George’s on Sunday, January 27, and thereafter on the last Sunday of the month. Come along if you love BCP or have never experienced it and be swept along with its beauty.

Lesley will be leading the Taizé service at 6pm at St John’s on Sunday, February 3, and thereafter on the first Sunday of the month.

Lesley adds: “If neither of these services speak to you but something else will help you draw closer to God then please do that, and if you want some help setting something up then please contact me”.

If your wardrobes are feeling a bit full, or you are thinking of having a clear out ahead of the spring, fill your bags with clothes and take them to St George’s Church on Friday (January 25) between 3pm and 7pm.

As well as winter clothing, maternity wear and new underwear (nothing XL or XXL) Farnham Help for Refugees needs medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, crutches, walking frames and neck braces; new, unopened painkillers and new toothbrushes and toothpaste. A full list is shown on the poster below. Items will be sorted and shipped to agencies working with refugees both overseas and in the UK.

If you have any strong cardboard boxes that can be closed or have lids – especially removal boxes – they will be very useful, and as it costs £5 to send a box of aid to refugees, financial donations are also welcome on the day.

The group is also looking for volunteers to help sort and pack donations between 1.30pm and 9pm on Friday, January 25, and from 9am to 11am on Saturday, January 26.

Join in the fun of a Beetle Drive, beginning at 6:30pm with fish and chips (bring your own drink), at St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, on Saturday, January 19.

Games start promptly at 7.15pm.

A Beetle Drive involves several tables with players, each of whom takes turns to roll a die to try to collect parts of a beetle, which are either pre-drawn or which players draw themselves. To start collecting each player must roll a six which represents the beetle’s body. After that they may start adding parts with each number on the die representing a part of the body. Once a player has a complete beetle they shout ‘beetle’ and the game stops. The person on each table with the most nearly complete beetle moves to a table clockwise round the room while the player who has collected the fewest parts moves anti-clockwise and the game begins again.

Tickets are £8 each and must be bought by Wednesday (January 16). To buy them, contact Carol Le Page 07798 640815.

This Christmas, come and join us at services at any of the three churches – St George’s in Badshot Lea, St John’s in Hale, St Mark’s in Upper Hale. For details of services, see here. For details of why you may want to, read on.

Human beings are natural storytellers. It is something that defines us. We love stories, we define ourselves by our stories, in them we find identity. We even turn things that aren’t really stories into stories because everything needs a story for us to find it plausible; if there is no story then we don’t really register what we are hearing; lists of names or facts or equations generally bore us.

More than anything we need stories of hope and stories to unite us. These are the best stories and they are even better if we tell them from one generation to the next, including the children in the telling. I love the Jewish tradition of Passover, with the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs and the four glasses of wine representing hope, and the youngest child asks the question four times in different ways “Why is this night, of all nights, different?”

The story of Christmas is part of the greatest story ever told, and for me it is the most shocking part, that 2000 years ago a baby was born who united heaven and earth, united God and humankind, and this baby was born in humble circumstances. This baby was worshipped by angels in heaven, poor shepherds who lived locally, and rich magi who had travelled from afar. The baby gets a name “Emmanuel” which means “God with us”, and in that name is our hope and our unity, God is with us… Wow…

We remember this each year, we act it out at our crib services, we involve our children, so that we all know the story. We know that Herod was horrible, we know that there was no room at the inn, we know that Mary was a virgin (even if some of us don’t yet know that word means!) and that she travelled a long way on a donkey whilst heavily pregnant. During the rendition of this story some of the women who have given birth smile at the depictions of Mary’s labour, there are usually a few costume malfunctions, sometimes we struggle to find a Joseph (understandable really), and we all sing carols. The story doesn’t get old or tired.

We also remember this story each year at the “First mass of Christmas” – Midnight Mass – when the church is lit with candles and the organ plays the carols we know so well. Everything is more magical at night time, we wait up past our bedtimes with expectation and with joy, joining together as a rather disparate community, all with one intention, to see in this special day where we celebrate the birth of our Saviour. There are some who come to church only once a year to this service, there are some who have come from afar who are staying with friends or relatives, there are some who have just come from the pub; last year we had some who were Muslims and who had never been to a service in their lives before, and there are some who are regulars at that church. This is the magic of Christmas – the ability for this story to bring us all together in hope.

I love the poem “Christmas” by John Betjeman that we hear each year at the carol service at St John’s. It ends with a question:

And is it true,

This most tremendous tale of all,

Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue,

A Baby in an ox’s stall?

The Maker of the stars and sea

Become a Child on earth for me?

And is it true? For if it is,

No loving fingers tying strings

Around those tissued fripperies,

The sweet and silly Christmas things,

Bath salts and inexpensive scent

And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,

No carolling in frosty air,

Nor all the steeple-shaking bells

Can with this single Truth compare –

That God was man in Palestine

And lives today in Bread and Wine.

And is it true? Why is this night of all nights different?

I pray that your Christmas will be joyful and give you hope, I pray that you will find unity and community in your travels this Christmastide and I pray that this will bless you throughout 2019.

Advent is here which means Christmas is on the way, and what better way to start your celebrations with a bit of carol-singing?

Join us on Sunday afternoon (December 2) at St George’s, Badshot Lea, for Top 10 Carols. Sing your favourite carols and help raise money for the St George’s heating fund. All are welcome – whether you can sing or not. Come along from 3.30 to 4.30pm.

Come to St George’s Church, Badshot Lea, on Monday (November 19) to celebrate the switching on of the Christmas lights at 6pm. There will be hot dogs, hot chocolate and mulled wine available to buy, and music from the Sea Cadets, the Badshot Lea Infant School choir and the church choir.

Picture by Geert Pieters, Unsplash

Wars affect not just individuals but whole communities, so it is fitting that remembrance is a community event, particularly this year when we have been commemorating the centenary of the end of World War One.

In Badshot Lea and Hale we held two community events on November 7 and 8, as well as services of Remembrance at the war memorials and in the churches. On November 7 at St John’s Church, the community gathered together to pause and remember those who had died in the conflicts past and present. The Farnham Town Crier Jonathan Jones read some poetry and the year 6 children from William Cobbett school read In Flanders Fields and a combined parish choir sang A flowerremembered and Circle us Lord.

The idea for the evening was to encourage those attending to remember but also to live as people of peace and reconciliation so we drew the formal part of the evening to a close by singing Shalom. After the service, hospitality was offered by the congregation of St John’s and the display of art work and poetry was enjoyed by all who attended. The display will be available in the church until November 19.

The next day we held a similar event at St George’s Church. The Farnham Mayor and his wife joined members of the community in a packed church.

Badshot Lea Infant School had been working for a few weeks on fantastic art and poetry which was displayed around the church. There was also poetry on display from other members of the community, including a poem by Leslie Morrel to his wife Eva written in 1942. Unfortunately, Leslie lost his life during WW2 and is listed on the Badshot Lea War Memorial. Eva, now aged 96, still lives in the village.

The children from the school entertained us with some lovely singing and the Parish choir helped led Pack up your troubles and It’s a long way to Tipperary.

As with the St John’s event, we wanted to encourage people to remember but also to strive for peace and reconciliation. After the service, hospitality was offered by the congregation of St George’s and the display of art work and poetry was enjoyed by all who attended. A huge thanks to Badshot Lea Infants teachers, pupils and parents who helped make this event such a success.

At St Mark’s, the local Beavers, Cubs and Scouts joined us at the Hale war memorial and then walked up the hill for the Sunday service at which their standards were received by the church. The church itself was filled with Remembrance art created by the community, in part during the Sunday services leading up to November 11 and at Thursday morning art. There was also a prayer station which focused our minds on the individuals who had died in armed conflict, allowing us to reflect on the personal loss that war brings.

Afterwards Scouts, Cubs, Beavers and other guests joined the congregation for coffee and conversation, and a lot of biscuits!

Brothers, have no fear of men’s sin. Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.